Month goes before year, but year is after month

Tuesday

Jan 29, 2008 at 12:01 AM

The other day I thought I got a parking ticket in downtown Medford. It turned out that it wasn't a ticket but a warning that the tags on my license plate were reversed. Do I really need to get this fixed? Other than having the tags reversed, my license registration is up to date.

The other day I thought I got a parking ticket in downtown Medford. It turned out that it wasn't a ticket but a warning that the tags on my license plate were reversed. Do I really need to get this fixed? Other than having the tags reversed, my license registration is up to date.

— George S., Medford

You're out of luck, George, and maybe just a little dyslexic. According to our sources at Oregon's Driver and Motor Vehicle Services Division it is technically against the law to improperly display the year and month tags on your license. Law enforcement officers need to quickly determine whether your registration tags are in order, so they should be placed in the appropriate places — that means the month sticker should be on the lower left side of the plate, and the year sticker on the lower right side.

Medford police Lt. Bob Hansen was a little puzzled that parking attendants were passing out warning notices for vehicles that had the tags placed incorrectly.

"That's not their place to put any official notices about that," he said.

Hansen said he contacted officials from the Medford Urban Renewal Agency and they told him they would tell their parking attendants not to pass out these notices anymore.

However, if you had expired license plates, the parking attendant could give you a parking violation because there is a specific ordinance on the books that covers that.

Just between us, George, you could get a warning on this from any regular patrol officer, so you'll need to visit your nearest DMV office to take care of this situation.

Send questions to "Since You Asked," Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; by fax to 541-776-4376; or by e-mail to youasked@mailtribune.com. The volume of questions received prevents us from answering all of them.